DAT Break Down

[El Salvaje]

I took my DAT a year ago on Sept 18th and PROMISED myself that I would contribute my experiences preparing for it because of how fundamental this website has been to my success. Well things came up, I became lazy and so here we are now (better late than never right?). These are my scores off the top of my head, not the amazing 25/25/25 you see on these forums, but they were mostly above the 95th percentile in all but two categories.

AA: 22
TS: 23
BIO: 24
OC: 30
GC: 25
QR: 16
PAT: 17

So basically some things work for others and some things don't. What worked for me was a combination of Kaplan, TopScore, my old textbooks, etc but that isn't what you should focus on for everything. The Bio and the Reading, for example, I did well on because of my University education. Plain and simple. These subjects are so vast that it would have been impossible for me to focus on EVERY section and absolutely ace it. The same goes for OChem, GChem and the QR to a lesser extent. There were A LOT of curve balls thrown at me on the test and, in the end, what really helped was just brushing up on everything and THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT THE ANSWERS. This is actually why I would also recommend the Kapalan MCAT book as well. I know most of you may not want to hear it, but if you look at the tests with a purely objective viewpoint it is clear that (as far as the sciences go) the MCAT is much more demanding. You read an entire passage then using that information and your own knowlege answer the questions. For me, it was the disappointment of getting questions wrong which spurred me into studying harder and doing well. ALL the resources you find on this site are good but if you just memorize the answers instead of learning or thinking critically about them then I can almost guarentee that you will not do well on this test. Lastly, it won't be easy - plenty of late nights, missed parties and time spent locked up in your room (just ask my ex-girlfriend) but in the end its genuine sacrafice which makes us normal folk stand out among the rest. Other than that I'm not quite sure what else to elaborate on but I hope all you pre-DAT people found this information and appreciate the honesty. Let me know if you have anymore questions about my expereince in particular and g'luck.

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[LaFleur]

How can someone's TS be lower than any of his science sections? I know that it's not the average of all the science sections but I didn't know this was possible.

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[snaggletoof]

check your TS man...that doesn't add up.

 

[silveryhair]

lol this looks like bogus, he/she would have gotten a 15 in RC with those science and math scores....

 

[dentalWorks]

well, congratulations?

But, the TS is a bit low. My 22TS came from (24,21,21) and your individual scores are SO MUCH higher than mine.

Also, whats your RC?

 

[NewBee12]

Am I missing something here?
good point La Fleur

 

[El Salvaje]

Ah yes, I was too lazy to get up and actually find my DAT score sheet so these are all scores off the top of my head. My RC was around a 23 and is probably what I am most proud of because of how much schools place emphasis on it...but this is all beside the point. Whether or not you believe my scores (as if it were going to affect it) or how critical you are of my math skills (notice the 16 QR) doesn’t make a difference. I promised I would try and help which is exactly what I still intend. Being a relatively novice poster I forgot I even put this up but now I’m back. PM me if you have any questions/concerns about the exam and I will try my best to answer back promptly.